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FreediveWI · 03-18-2003, 07:41 PM,

If I end up selling my drysuit this summer I plan on picking up the coolest piece of dive gear that I have ever tried, they even beats out rebreathers and HID lights!

They are called "FLUID GOGGLES" and they were invented by Canadian world record holder Eric Fattah. He even let me try them on when I dove with him a couple of years ago in Miami.

Fluid Goggles look like regular swim goggles, except that you should have learned in scuba-101 that you can't dive with swim goggles. Normal swim goggles have no way of equalizing the air space on the inside of the lens and would cause serious damage to your eye if you dove much past 10' with them.

FLuid Goggles are filled with, you guessed it, fluid. Actually their filled with saline solution so that there is NO air space on the inside of the goggle. This means that you don't waste any air equalizing them on the way down and you can also keep your hands above your head for a smoother entry into the depths. When you use fluid goggles you wear a nose clip, made by Paradisia, which allows for hands-free clearing.

The inside of the goggle has a thick zirconium lens which actualy allows the eye to focus in water. They are very slick. Some tech divers are even putting them into their leg pockets instead of back-up masks for deep diving. They are much smaller and require no air to clear.

Here is a picture of my round noggin with a pair of them on- and filled with fluid. The visibility they provide is excellent.
Jon

***jasondbaker*** · 03-18-2003, 10:48 PM,

That sounds amazing. Let me understand. Are you eyes actually in contact with the solution then? Does this irritate the eyes after a while? How do you get the solution in there without leaking?

FreediveWI · 03-19-2003, 07:41 AM,

It doesn't bother your eyes because it's the same stuff you would wash your soft contact lenses in. They are much more comfortable than the old "scleral" lenses used by Umberto and Jacque.

They come with a small rubber nipple that fits onto the end of a bottle of saline solution. You put the lens on your face and then stick the nozzle into the top part of the lens and fill them up.

The wild part is when you first put them on, dry, you can't see a thing. Once you fill them up with liquid you can see everything. If you're diving in salt water you can just put them on without any solution, only seawater, if you want to. Fresh water can be too irritating to do that with.

This is a picture of their inventor, Eric Fattah.

Jon

freediverND · (This post was last modified: 03-19-2003, 08:40 AM by freediverND.)

Aren't those fluid filled goggles ground and matched to the curvature of your eye ball or lens or something like that. Seems to me I remember they come in several different ? powers ?, and that for some they focus perfect, as was in Jons case, but that for others it's a bit blurry.
I know hands free diving would be super... but for me.. I'm filling a cressi minima with silicone to take up space, won't make it hands free but will take up the air space.... aka Enzo in the Big Blue.
Besides everything else, putting air into the mask is one of the most distracting and frustrating things I do while going down. Can we talk squeeze???
Fred
This is not me... but I know who it is...and the photo isn't edited!

FreediveWI · 03-19-2003, 11:04 AM,

That's a great shot of someone who has had mask squeeze and the number one reason why you can't use regular swimming goggles past 10'.

Fluid goggles come in two powers adn 80-905 of the people will wear the first power. THey go for around $300 and are much easier on your eyes than sclearal lenses- which can cost thousands and hurt like crazy.

I have switched to a Technisub Sphera mask for deep diving as it has a very small internal volume. Some of the "big boys" are using this maks down to 300' on thier freedives. Others just go without any maks on at all- no fun diving blind. :-[

Another great low volume mask is the Cressi Sub Minima. IT has glass lenses, instead of plasitc, and has a super low internal volume with out the added silicone. I have included a shot of me wearing mine.

I think that Sporasub actually makes, an off the shelf, volume reducer for their Samuari mask.

Jon

freediverND · 03-19-2003, 03:04 PM,

That mask squeeze in the photo was caused by using a high volume scuba mask and trying to stay with me on a freedive. I shouldn't say it was caused by the mask but rather the lack of equalizing it. Not much discomfort, no lasting damage, but sure looked like heck for a few weeks.
A soft skirt on the mask can make a big difference too. The softer the skirt then the mask will compress and not suck your eyeballs out of the socket so much as a stiff skirted mask will. With no give in a stiff skirt, under pressure the space tries to fill with anything available.. like the eyeballs.
Fred

03-24-2003, 06:15 PM,

I was NOT expecting that picture.........

Wow.

FreediveWI · 03-24-2003, 06:17 PM,

That picture proves why fluid goggles are so awsome- no air space means no squeeze.

Jon

03-24-2003, 06:21 PM,

Yah....I can understand that one now. That would be a great picture to show to Beginning OW classes.

"Now class, this slide here shows the importance of equalizing properly.."

Those fluid filled goggles sound pretty neat. Would you seriously want to put the goggles on filled with seawater though? Isn't the salt content of that a little high? You would think it would hurt your eyes.